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Topic: Any thoughts on these MoBo's (Read 1852 times)

First of all, since this is my first post, Hello to all of you and thanks for your very useful posts.

I'm about to install my first MD, and I'm having a look at different Mother Boards for it, and I'd like to know your opinion about them, also if anyone around has tried them, and what is compatibility like.

Which one would you recomend? Do them all support UI2 with alpha bending with the appropieate drivers?also, in those MoBos without integrated processor, which one would you recomend for a MD (if possible, I'd like to view HD video). What RAM size?

Don't know Jetway, have always stuck to ASUS/MSI/Gigabyte. Most recently Gigabyte due to long life caps and good consutruction and value for money.

Avoid the Intel or Via graphics (or ATI in my experience, though some people here have got theirs working). That leaves the motherboard with the built in Nvidia 8200.

You should make sure that the chips used on the motherboard are well supported by Linux. There is a whole article which I should write on researching this. Basically you need to find what the the sound and ethernet chips are on the motherboard, and then check out if they work OK with Linux. Also, as the current LMCE is using an older kernel (including device support), be prepared that you might have to build yourself a new kernel to get it all working. Not really hard, and instructions are on the Wiki.

Check out the info in the Wiki. There is more info on choosing a motherboard there, search for "newbie".

Make sure you have enough slots to put in tuner cards and 1 more ethernet adapter (if you only have one on the motherboard you choose, LMCE likes to have 2).

My Gigabyte GA-MA78GPM-DS2H works OK as a hybrid, ethernet and audio were fine, ATI graphics on board had to be disabled (only if using as media centre or hybrid, as a core you could run the "old" GUI fine). Main limitation is 2 PCI slots (Linux only supports PCI DVB-T tuners right now), otherwise an amazing motherboard for the $.

I personally would stay away from Jetway boards. Many people have said thier boards are cheap quality. I didn't heed the warnings of others regarding Jetway boards, thinking that their nc62k would have been better, but I exchanged it for a new one after the first one was broken. Then then returned the second one after two weeks because it burned out with fumes and smoke. Another guy on another blog had the same problem with this board. Had read several complaints about their boards, took a chance my self and will never buy another jetway board. I stick to asus and msi now.

Nvidia 8200 and ITX form factor means it would probably make a great MD motherboard! It appears others have had issues with the ALSA drivers and the 8200 has an issue with overheading, but it looks like they added a fan to the northbridge chipset in the photo. I might snag one to see just how good it is. I'd just need a VESA-mountable ITX case!